


Five Times Barry Sees Lup and One Time She Sees Him

by aliensinflowercrowns



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: 5 + 1 times fic, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/M, Fire Shenanigans, canon a-typical non slowburn, drinking and partying (but everyone is of age), gratuitous depictions of the twins clothing, other characters and relationships in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 11:36:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20446511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliensinflowercrowns/pseuds/aliensinflowercrowns
Summary: Barry sees Lup in a biology lecture. And then he sees her again. And again and again and again.





	Five Times Barry Sees Lup and One Time She Sees Him

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote the first half of this like ten months ago and then i found it again today and finished it while procrastinating writing a different thing. so have some fluffy blupjeans for the soul.

The first time he saw her was in class. Somehow, he’d gotten all the way to the first semester of his senior year at Hallwinter University without taking “Intro to Biology,” which was required for his Bioengineering degree. He’d just gotten teachers to wave prerequisites so that he could take more interesting classes. These kinds of things came with the territory of being one of two living descendants of the founder of the University. The other was his mother, who ran the Hallwinter Charitable Foundation.

Barry had thought that it would be easy to go to his advisor and just get the class checked off. Sure it was required for his major, but he clearly didn’t need to take  _ Intro to Biology _ . But when he walked into Davenport’s office, his advisor was strangely adamant that he needed to take the class. “It’ll be good for you to have a simple credit this semester, Barry.”

So there he was, sitting with about a million freshmen, a new notebook open, fifteen minutes after class was supposed to have started. The large whiteboard read “BIOLOGY 101 WITH PROFESSOR HIGHCHURCH,” but the front of the room remained suspiciously empty. Barry was starting to wonder if he should just leave, when the double doors to the classroom burst open in a spectacular, theatrical, and wholly unnecessary fashion. And there she was. 

She was tall, for a girl at least, probably only an inch or so shorter than him, with long, curly brown hair styled into a wicked sharp undercut. The ends were dyed bright pink. She wore a red leather jacket and a form-fitting black tank top that read “Wenn Sie in den Weltraum schrauben, drückt es Sie nach hinten.” She wore black leggings and combat boots, and had large pink sunglasses on. She was drinking an iced tea. 

She walked over to the whiteboard. The room was silent. Someone dropped a pencil on the ground. She reached into the bag she was carrying–a large back tote–and pulled out a bright pink marker. She edited the words on the whiteboard so that they read: “BIOLOGY 101 WITH PROFESSOR  <strike> HIGHCHURCH </strike> LUP.”

She whirled around so she was facing the glass and whipped off her sunglasses, revealing another pair of large, square frames underneath. Her eyes were two different colors, one brown and one green. 

“Sup, chucklefucks,” She said, her voice booming in the lecture hall. “Merle couldn’t make it to class today, he forgot he had it, so he texted me and asked if I was busy. I, like a dumbass, said no, I was not busy, and so now I am here. With you.” She surveyed the room, slow and methodical. “Greg Grimaldis!” She said.

A junior boy that Barry recognized as a loudmouth English major snapped out of sleep. 

“Lup–” He started, in a tired tone. 

“Greeeeeeeeeeeeg!” She said, cutting him out. She made a circular motion with her pointer finger. “Grim _ aldis. _ ” She stopped, then pointed again, as if landing on a bullseye. “For fifteen dollars, can you, Greg Grimaldis, tell me the tenants of life?”

“Like… do as you would unto someone else?”

“No, Greg, like how to we science boys tell between if something is a rock or if it has two brain cells to rub together.”

“Oh. I don’t–”

“Fifteen dollars, Gregathy. Got it right here.” She patted her hip, where there was no pocket that Barry could see.

“Um… like… cells and shit, right?”

“Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg. Gregjamin. So close. Life, Greg, is so much more than cells. It’s… it’s meaning… it’s love… it’s the terror you feel when faced with a thirty-foot chasm… it’s lighting shit on fire just to see what happens and then being surprised when that thing is usually fire!” She smiled. “But it’s also: reproduction, energy, waste, growth, being impacted by the environment around you, and, yes, Greg, having at least one or more cells.” 

“So, do I get fifteen dollars then?” Greg asked. The rest of the class chuckled. 

“No Greg,” Lup said. “In fact, you owe  _ me _ money. Fifteen monies. And by monies, I mean dollars. And by dollars, I mean pay up. I take this shit seriously Gregopald. A bet is a bet is a bet. I aim to  _ collect _ .” 

She stared at him for ten seconds, before abruptly turning back to the whiteboard and writing “ARISTOTLE” in large letters. 

“Now, usually, we start with this bitch over here.” She crossed out the word Aristotle and wrote “Punk Bitch” in looping cursive. “But because he, guys, for real though, he sucked  _ so hard _ , because he sucked so hard, just major nuggets, we aren’t gonna talk about him. Instead, we’re gonna take it over to my main dude Linus Pauling. Or, maybe he’s not my main dude, but my brother is like super into him, so that kind of makes him my main dude. So basically, Pauling was like, yo, those are some nice molecules you got there science, now allow me to majorly wreck your shop by just givin’ ya little knowledge bombs right and left, while also being like, real bombs? Real bombs and fuck right off, cause he was also hella chill when it came to like… nukes and junk. So, what is molecular biology? Well, that’s a loaded question, but I’m sure we can answer it in… uh… however long we have left here. Sixty-seven minutes? Yeah. Sure.” 

Barry fell in love instantly. 

Their actual professor, a stout black man with far too much beard, arrived five minutes before the class ended. 

“And so then he gets old and is like, nah bro just take all these vitamins and shit rather than doing real science and going to see doctors and I’m just like… bro!  _ Bro _ ! Linus! My man! You were doing so fuckin’ well and then you just went off the rails! Like you’ve got two whole different noble prizes and then you’re over here talking about dietary supplements and fuckin… megavitamin therapy!? Words mean things, my dude, I don’t–oh shit, hey Merle.” 

The professor, Merle Highchurch, apparently, let out a gruff greeting. Lup grabbed her bag, her sunglasses, and her bright pink pen before shooting a peace sign at the room and saying “Later skaters.”

Professor Highchurch handed out syllabi and Barry rushed out of the room, trying to catch up with this enigmatic… T.A.? Grad Student? Professor? But she was long gone. 

The second time he saw her was in the lab, and really this time he didn’t see her at all. He saw someone who looked just like her. This person was wearing a maroon shirt with a cinched waist that had some black satin belt thing tied around their midsection and black skinny jeans. Their hair was long, curly, and blonde–Barry hadn’t been sure how Lup had changed her hair so quickly, he’d seen her only three weeks ago–and cascading about wildly. They wore a lab coat draped about them as more of an accessory than a safety precaution, and their lab goggles were placed atop their head rather than on their face. 

They were focused intently on what was in front of them, some sort of chemical project. Barry wasn’t completely sure. There were various bubbling liquids of various menacing colors in various glass beakers. The whole thing looked like the set up of a mythical alchemist. 

Now Barry got to see them up close for the first time. They had high, sharp cheekbones, and a smattering of freckles across their nose. 

“Why don’t you take a picture, Kemosabe,” They said. “It’ll last you longer.” 

Barry jumped. “Sorry, I, erm, um, I’m Barry.”

“Nice to meet you, Barry,” They picked up some tongs and moved a beaker off of a burner. “I’m busy.”

Barry noticed there was a gap between their teeth. 

“Right, yes, um, I just wanted to say I was at your biology lecture–”

“I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about my man.” 

“I, what?”

“I’m not a biologist. Like, hella not. Okay, I mean, not hella not, I’m on track for a bio minor but that’s unrelated. I’ve never given a bio lecture.”

“But you… I  _ saw _ you!” 

A flicker of something flashed behind their eyes and a small smile spread across their face. 

“Who?”

“What?”

“Who did you  _ see _ ?” 

“You!”

“Are you  _ sure _ ?” 

“Yes, Lup, you’re pretty memorable–”

The person cut him off with a loud cackle. “Nope! Nada! Incorrectamundo, my good bitch. I am the one and only T to the double-A to the K-O,  _ Taako _ . You met my sister. And I am frankly offended, because I am oh-so-clearly far better looking than her.” 

Barry’s cheeks went hot. He could tell he was the color of a Christmas Ham. “Oh my god. I’m such an asshole.”

“Yep.”

“She mentioned a brother I just didn’t think you would be…”

“ _ Iden-ti-cal-ay. _ ” 

“Fuck.”

“But do tell me, Jerry–”

“Barry.”

“Barold. What exactly did you plan to say to my dear sister dear?” 

“Nothing! Nothing, really. I just, um, wanted to tell her that I found her lecture very… interesting, and I wanted to know if she’d be, uh, back in class, ever, or if she wanted to get together and… discuss… science.”

“Discuss science. Is that what you call it?”

“Wh-what?”

“You know, if I’ve got a sock on the door don’t come in cause I’m  _ discussing science _ .”

“No! Not–I don’t… I just… agh. I should go.”

“You think so?”

But Barry didn’t go, he had to say one more horrible, horrible thing, of course. He started for the door, and then turned around, and before he could think better of it, said: “Also, your whole outfit is breaking like seventeen different lab safety rules. Like, just so you know.” 

Taako looked up once again from his project. “I swear to god, Barold, I will steal all of your fingernails.” 

“Noted.”

And then he left. 

The third time he saw her, he was with friends. Johann, who he met in Music Theory 1 back in freshman year, Johann’s boyfriend, Avi, and Lucretia, who he’d been friends with for as long as he could remember. The October chill was just beginning to set in, and they had all decided to go for drinks at the campus restaurant/cafe. 

They were set up on one of the old, overstuffed couches. Johann was on the left, Barry was on the right, Lucretia was stretched out between them, and Avi was on the floor, leaning against Johann’s knees. 

“Hel _ lo _ welcome to Hallwinter Coffee Co., my name is Lup and I’ll be takin’ care of ya today.” 

Barry looked up from his textbook. She was just as breathtaking as he remembered. She wore a black skirt over galaxy patterned leggings and a lacy red shirt that was covered by the dark blue apron reading “Hallwinter Coffee Co.” in white embroidery. Her eyes were just as striking as she looked down at him from behind her purple cat-eye glasses. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun. 

“Hey,” She said. “Don’t I know you?” 

Barry began to open his mouth, but Lup cut him off. 

“Johann, right? You’re a violinist?”

Johann smiled. “Yeah,” He blushed a bit.

“The best violinist  _ ever _ !” Avi said. 

Lup smiled. “That’s so dope, man! I’m planning to audition for the Chamber Strings this semester.” 

“Aw, sick,” Johann said. 

“Anyway. What’ll y’all be having?”

“Hmmm…” Lucretia said. “Are you guys serving soup yet?” 

“Yeah, man. We got this hella good french onion, uh… chicken noodle… broccoli cheddar… some vegetable minestrone thing?” 

“I’ll have a cup of french onion soup.”

“Cool cool.” 

Avi and Johann listed their orders off. Barry noticed how Lup didn’t need to write any of them down. She was so smart. 

“And, for you?” She asked, finally looking down at Barry. 

“I’ll, um, can I get a–”

“ _ LUP! _ ” Someone yelled, lifting her off of the ground. She shrieked, and smacked at the burly boy holding her. 

“Magnus, holy shit!” She said. “I’m working, put me down, you’re gonna get me fired!” 

“Please, you know this joint would break down without you.” The large man smiled, turning to address the group. Barry didn’t know much about campus sports, but he recognized Magnus Burnsides, star quarterback, friend to all, dating Julia Waxmen, captain of the women’s basketball team. 

“Hey!” He said. 

Barry’s group mumbled various greetings. Barry liked to think that they were past the ridiculous popularity gammons that run rampant in high school, but his nervous nerd roots ran deep, and he was very confused as to why Magnus was talking to him and his friends. 

“I’m Magnus,” Magnus said. “Nice to meet you all. I’m sure my dear sister will take good care of you–”

Lup shoved Magnus. “I’m not his sister,” she said. 

Magnus opened his mouth in mock surprise. “Lu, I thought we were family–”

“We were foster siblings for  _ sixth months _ , when we were  _ fourteen _ , Magnus–”

“And we’ve been inseparable ever since.” 

Lup rolled her eyes. She turned back to Barry. “Sorry about that, didn’t mean to include y’all in the family circus. What can I get for you?”

Barry stared at her perfectly made-up face. She wore purple lipstick that popped against her tan skin, and her eyeliner was winged in a way that made her brown and blue eyes huge and easy to get lost in. 

“Uh,” Barry said, forgetting everything he had ever wanted to eat or drink in his life. “Just… tea?”

“Okay,” Lup said patiently. “What kind?”

“A… Any,” Barry stumbled over his words. 

Lup nodded. “Any tea. Okay, babe.” 

Avi giggled. “Sorry, it’s that point in the semester.” 

Lup nodded. “Oh yeah, I get it.” She turned away from their group. Magnus grabbed her again and planted a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Are you gonna pay attention to me now?” Barry heard him say. “We’ve got a hugemongous group over there that could use a waitress.” 

Lup giggled and it sounded like music. “You’re insufferable,” she said. 

“Hel _ lo _ ,” Lucretia said. “Earth to Barry.” 

Barry blinked. “Oh,” he mumbled. “Sorry.” 

Avi and Johann snickered. Lucretia sighed. 

“Someone is smitten,” Johann sing-songed. “You gonna ask her out?”

“What?” Barry squawked. “I cannot ask out our waitress. That’s… that’s so unprofessional! Besides, I barely know her. I mean, and she, she knows me way less, and so… no!” 

“Jeezie-creezie, it was just a joke,” Johann said, laughing. 

“Although,” Lucretia said. “She and I are in the same dorm hall, and she and her brother have a whiteboard on their door. I could write your number on it…” 

Barry shook his head. “No,” he said. 

“Probably for the best,” Lucretia said. “I think she gets like ten a week.” 

“Okay,” Lup’s voice rang through the cafe. A different person, a girl with half of her head shaved and a giant raven tattoo visible under her muscle tee, was following her. “I’ve got a french onion soup, a house salad, no feta, which, judging you harshly for by the way, a club sandwich with homefries, and… a tea. I’ll tell it to you straight, I told my brother to just throw in one of his house blends, so I’ve got no clue what’s in here. If you, like, die, or fall in love with the first person you see after drinking this or whatever, you legally can’t sue us now.”

“She’s right,” said the person next to her. “Trust me, I’m prelaw.” 

“No, you aren’t Sloane.”

“I’m close to being prelaw!”

“Fucking someone who is prelaw is not close to being prelaw, you fuckin’ philosophy major.” 

The girl with the raven tattoo, Sloane, narrowed her eyes. 

“Everything good here?” Lup asked. 

Barry and his friends made sounds of agreement. 

“Great! Call me if you need anything!” 

The fourth time he saw her was in his dorm room. Barry was embarrassed about quite a few different facets of his living situation. Being a senior and still living on campus was bad enough, but he barely knew his roommate. They had met at a “find a roommate mixer” the year previous, since Barry’s old roommate, Roswell, was graduating. Kravitz had been one of the few seniors also at the mixer, and the two of them got along okay. Even if Kravitz, a theatre and poly sci double major, was a little weirded out by Barry’s more hands on experiments sometimes. Still, they weren’t  _ friends _ , and they didn’t  _ talk _ , not about anything important really. So Barry didn’t know that Kravitz had a boyfriend until said boyfriend was barging into his dorm room at one in the morning with his sister in tow. 

“Uh,” Barry had said. “I think someone is trying to break into our room.” 

Kravitz was sitting on his bed with his fancy headphones on, reading a book. He looked up and pulled his headphones around his neck. Barry could hear loud rock music playing out of them. 

“What?” he asked. 

Barry pointed at the jiggling doorknob. 

“Either that or our place is haunted.” 

Kravitz’s eyebrows furrowed. Their question was answered by the door swinging open. 

“Bam. Boom. Done,” Taako said, holding a bobby pin up triumphantly. “Lup, did you time me? What was it?”

“Fifteen point two seconds,” Lup said, holding up her hand for a high five. 

Taako met it with enthusiasm. “Oh  _ hell _ to the yeah.” He turned to Kravitz. “What the fuck is Krav-kracka-lackin’, my main fella?” 

Kravitz smiled pleasantly. “It’s one in the morning, Taako. Most people are asleep right now.” 

“Well, Kravvy,” Lup said, swinging her arm around Taako’s shoulder. “Most people are boring. And we are the harbingers of the fun times, here to save you from the boredom, by inviting you to the biggest, blowoutest, slightly illegalest party of the fuckin’ year. It’s at Maggie, Jack, Julia, Killian, Carey, Sloane, and Hurley’s place. It’s gonna be wild, we’re gonna rage for days, and you are coming with us because my brother is not allowed to date a fucking square.” 

Barry was transfixed by Lup. (Well, by both of them, but mostly Lup.) Lup’s hair was dyed blue and pink. Taako’s hair was still mostly blond, but with some of his brown roots showing. The tips were pink. They were both covered in glitter and wore extravagant makeup. Taako wore shorts that read “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” on the ass and a bright red tank top with a silvery mesh shirt over it. Lup wore a large, loose, crop top with the sleeves cut off that read “Same Shit, Different Celestial Plane.” She wore a miniskirt and fishnets and Barry could see her pink lacy bra under her shirt. She had big, John Lennon style glasses. Barry was so distracted staring at her that he almost missed Kravitz’s response. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Sure. Give me a minute to change. Black tie formal?” 

Taako rolled his eyes. “If you wear cufflinks, I will break up with you.” 

Kravitz smiled he and Taako began to bicker about clothes. Lup wandered over to where Barry was sitting at his desk. 

“Hey,” she said, sitting on his bed as if she’d known him for years. “Are you Kravitz’s roommate?” 

“Nah, I just live here. I’ve never seen that guy before in my life,” Barry said. 

Lup stared at him for a second, and then  _ cackled _ . “Oh my god, that’s hilarious.” She smiled at him. “I feel like I haven’t seen you around. Are you like, a freshman?”

Barry reddened. “No. No, I just… I don’t get out much. I’m a senior.” 

“Oh dip! Cool. I’m a junior. My name’s Lup.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said. 

Lup raised an eyebrow. 

“I was… I was um, in your bio lecture? At the beginning of the semester. Where you filled in for Mr. Highchurch. Why were you… allowed to do that, by the way? Especially as a junior?”

Lup laughed. “I don’t think I was, but Merle’s got like, super tenure. He’s unfireable. He’s sleeping with the President of the University. And he’s like…” she shrugged. “He’s kind of my dad? I mean, not actually, but he’s the reason I got in here. And when I’m not at school I live with him. And I’m a nuclear physics and advanced molecular biology major so… I got nuclear physics pretty much down pat.” 

“Oh,” Barry said. “That’s… really cool. I’m a Bioengineering and, uh, regular engineering double major.” 

“Hell yeah science,” Lup said. “My nerd-ass brother over there is an organic chemistry major with a double minor in biology and physics.” 

“Jeez,” Barry said. “Uh, I’m surprised we haven’t met before.” 

Lup shrugged. “I mean, sometimes you can see a person a hundred times before you really see them, you know?”

Barry looked at her.  _ Not you _ , he wanted to say.  _ It’s impossible not to see you.  _

“Alright Lulu,” Taako said, resting a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Let’s bounce.” 

“Hell yeah,” Lup said, hopping up. She turned to Barry. “Hey, roommate, you wanna come? ‘S gonna be  _ lit _ .” 

Taako laughed. “Yeah, you might see Lup get drunk enough to do her fire tricks.” 

“Oh,” Barry said, blinking a few times. “Um, er, sure.”

The fifth time he saw her was at the party. They rode over in Kravitz’s car, with Kravitz driving, Taako in the passenger seat, and Barry and Lup in the back. Lup had immediately grabbed the aux cord and started blasting something loud and fast. 

The drive was only about five minutes. They pulled up to a house that was in the neighborhood where a lot of students who didn’t live on campus would rent out group housing. It was a little further away from the university than most, but if there were going to be blowout parties, Barry assumed it was by design. 

Barry was informed by Taako, Lup, and Kravitz all talking over each other that the house was rented out by Magnus Burnsides, one of his good friends, his girlfriend, and two other couples. 

“The lesbian squad!” Lup had informed him excitedly. It was an old, broken down Victorian place– “probably haunted,” according to Kravitz–that had six bedrooms and three floors. Apparently Taako and Lup stayed there a lot, they even had a room, but their scholarships gave them free housing. 

“We cook for them in return for part time residence, basically,” Taako said. 

They said the place was known for having great parties. Barry hadn’t ever heard anything about it, but that didn’t contradict the statement. 

Barry got lost in the party pretty quickly. Lup, Taako, and Kravitz stayed with him for about ninety seconds before they all got distracted by different things. The house was huge, and packed. Loud music blared in every room. There were people draped over couches, counters, and each other. Barry found his way to the kitchen and got something to drink. He wasn’t sure who the designated driver was supposed to be, but if worse came to worst he could just order an uber, or walk home. 

He wandered around aimlessly for a while before finding a group of people he recognized from his classes. He sat on a beanbag chair next to them and quietly took in his surroundings, occasionally adding to the conversation. 

He didn’t see Lup for a few hours. It was getting to be really late, and he was considering just going home, when there was a shout from next to him. He turned to see Magnus running down the stairs with Lup sitting on his shoulders. Her shirt and shoes had been abandoned, leaving her in only her fishnets, miniskirt, and bra. She had somehow gained a jacket, though. 

A few more people whooped as she and Magnus entered. Barry could see Taako, Kravitz, and a couple other people that he recognized as part of their general friend group trailing behind them. 

“Alright, alright, alright!” Lup yelled, clearly shitfaced. “If I can have your. Attention. Please.” A hush fell over the room. Lup smiled and spoke again. “What you are about to see is done by a not so trained professional. But I have had a lot of practice! So don’t try this at home, is what I’m saying. And step out of the way, cause I will not be held liable if I set your hair on fire.” 

A circle cleared around her and Magnus. A few people cheered, clearly knowing what was about to happen. 

Lup climbed off of Magnus’s back and onto a tall chair someone had set out for her. Her long legs moved gracefully as she made the transition. She shimmied a bit, and someone wolf whistled. Lup shrugged her jacket and tossed it lazily into Barry’s lap. She winked at him, then reached into her miniskirt and pulled out two lighters and a pack of matches. 

She started by lighting matches and twirling them in her fingers. As she went on, a look of concentration took over her face. Her movements became more precise and careful. She twirled the lighters and matches. She did a cartwheel that ended with lighting a candle. Someone put on music and she began to dance with it as she twirled with the fire. It looked like she managed to move it across her body. The way that she contorted and moved with the matches and the fire was clearly practiced, she must have been a gymnast at some point, but she made it look effortless. 

“And now for the main event!” she said. She held out her hand, and Taako placed a bottle of Everclear in it. She grimaced at it. “Disgusting,” she said. She then took a long pull, winked again, turned on her lighter, and an explosion of fire shot from her mouth, draconic and powerful. She took another pull and stood on her toes, rapidly spinning surrounded by fire. The party went wild. She finished with one more cartwheel and an award winning smile. She smelled like booze and smoke and if Barry was a braver man he would have run up and kissed her on the spot. 

“Thank you!” she said to the adoring crowd. “Tip your waitresses! Trans rights!” 

Another flurry of cheers went up. 

“Hey,” she said ten minutes later. Up close, Barry could see the sweat and glitter glistening on her skin. Her cheeks were flushed. 

“H-Hey,” Barry said. “You were… you were amazing.” 

She smiled. “Thanks! I… some friends started teaching me that stuff when I was like twelve so,” she shrugged. 

“Wait,” Barry said. “Twelve? That’s way too young to be drinking!” 

“Well, at first it was gasoline, not vodka.” 

Barry blinked. “Tell me you’re joking.”

Lup smiled, a bit sad. “Sorry man, gotta be level ten friend to unlock that particular tragic backstory. Or, at least, I gotta know your name first. I’m not exactly schooled in manners, but I don’t think calling you ‘roommate’ is supes polite.” 

“Oh,” Barry said. “Right, right, um, it’s Barry. Barry Bluejeans.” 

“No fucking way.” 

“I shit you not.” 

She laughed. “That’s amazing.” She smiled at him again, then pointed as his lap. “You have my jacket,” she said. “Or, technically Killian’s jacket.”

“Oh!” Barry said, handing it to her. “Right. Sorry, sorry.” 

She took it. “Catch you on the flip side, Mr. Bluejeans. Hope you’re having fun.” 

“Yeah,” Barry said, watching her disappear into the crowd once again. 

The first time she saw him,  _ really _ saw him, was in the hallway. It was late, or maybe early, and Lup had lost her shoes and her brother. She wandered around Kravitz’s dorm hall with the beginnings of a hangover. She normally would have just stayed at Magnus’s and met up with Taako after she’d slept the night off, but something had brought her here, looking for him like a lost puppy. Or maybe it wasn’t him she was looking for. 

She saw Barry sitting, half asleep, in front of his and Kravitz’s dorm room. 

“Uh,” she said, laughing a bit. “Hey, Barold.” 

Barry started. “What?” he said. “Uh, oh, hey Lup.” 

She sat next to him, sinking down against the wall. “Why are you out here at fuck all in the morning?”

Barry blushed. “Taako and Kravitz kicked me out. Or, I guess, they got back here before I did and when I tried to open the door there was a lot of… um… yelling.”

Lup laughed. “Youch. Dick move.” 

Barry shrugged. “I don’t mind. I can probably just go crash with a friend. I just… haven’t yet.”

Lup smiled. She cocked her head. He was nice to look at. His hair was brown and curly. He was a little pudgy. He seemed soft and sturdy. He wore big glasses and his eyes were hazel. He was covered in moles. He laughed a lot. He made her laugh. She had interacted with him several times and he had never said anything that made her want to hit him, which was a rarity. Something about him just… clicked with her. 

“You could stay with me,” she said softly, not completely sure why she said it. “I mean, it’s only fair, since my roommate kind of kicked you out of your room.” 

“Your room… oh! Taako.” He wiped his hands on his jeans. “Um, yeah, sure.” 

Lup smiled again. She wondered what it would be like to kiss him. She lightly touched his face. 

“Can I kiss you?” she blurted out. 

“What?” Barry said, voice squeaking. “Wh-Why?” 

Lup giggled. “Cause you’re cute. And nice. And I’m still kind of drunk. And I want to. You can say no, I won’t be upset.” 

“No, no, I mean, no, yes, you can. Yes. You, you can kiss me.” 

Lup laughed. She could see herself having a lot of fun with this nerd. She leaned in and softly met his lips with hers. It was chaste, no tongue or anything, just a soft, warm touch. Still, it filled her with warmth from the bottom of her heart to the tips of her fingers. She broke away after a moment and studied his face. His eyes were wide and his mouth had some of her bright lipstick on it. She smiled. 

“So,” she said. “My room?”

Barry nodded. “Yes. Yes, definitely.” 

Lup giggled. It might have taken her awhile to look at Barry Bluejeans, but she certainly liked what she saw. 

**Author's Note:**

> tysm for reading! drop a comment if you're feeling particularly lovely! my tumblr is @ipretwins


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